Hughes & Kettner Tubemeister 18 Amp Review

From cars to cameras, Germans have a
well-deserved reputation for building
good stuff. So it’s natural that the boutique
guitar and gear trade flourishes in Teutonic
regions. Hughes & Kettner was one of the
first German boutique brands to really
thrive. And since the company was founded
in 1984, its gear has been used by such
big-name players as Alex Lifeson, Allan
Holdsworth, and Tony MacAlpine.

The EL84-powered TubeMeister 18
marks an interesting deviation from the
company’s usual medium-to high-wattage
fare. It’s built with studio musicians and
low-powered tube-amp lovers in mind. But
it also packs an impressive array of bells and
whistles more typical of its bigger brothers.

Feature Meister
At just 11 pounds, the brick-shaped
TubeMeister 18 fits in a padded carrying
case that made it a breeze to transport the
amp between the Premier Guitar offices and
my practice space. When you turn it on,
its Plexiglas faceplate glows with the same
blue hue seen on the company’s Triamp,
Puretone, and Duotone heads.

The front panel features controls for
Clean and Lead channels, which are switchable
via a Channel Select switch or an
optional footswitch. Both channels share
a 3-band EQ, though each has its own
Master and Gain controls. To kick in even
more gain and volume, you can select the
Lead Boost feature from either the front
panel or the footswitch.

Unlike most amps, many of the
TubeMeister’s tone-shaping controls are on
the back panel: Next to the series effects
loop and footswitch jack is a specially
designed version of the company’s famed
Red Box direct output circuit—the cabinet-emulating
DI box that put H&K on the
map—and a Power Soak knob. While the
TubeMeister’s DI Out is always available to
run out to a mixing desk, the Power Soak
reduces maximum wattage down from 18
watts to 5 or a single watt.

One of the coolest features of the
TubeMeister 18 is its ability to keep power
tubes at optimum voltage levels. This is
accomplished with the amp’s internal Tube
Safety Control (TSC ) circuit. According
to Hughes & Kettner, this feature
automatically and continuously adjusts
power-tube bias to prevent bias drift. On
the back panel, a set of LEDs indicates
power-tube status. When the LEDs are off,
the tubes are operating at optimum bias
levels. If one LED flashes and another stays
on, the tube corresponding to the flashing
LED is generating too much voltage
and needs to be replaced, while the other
is shut off but doesn’t need to be replaced.
If one LED is on for more than a few
minutes, this indicates the tube doesn’t
produce enough voltage and needs to be
replaced. These same LEDs also work with
a tube-biasing circuit that’s activated by
inserting a guitar pick into the slot next to
them. Handy stuff!

Tone Meister
This blue wonder packs an awful lot of
punch for such a tiny amplifier. Unlike
many small-wattage amps that tend to
emphasize midrange frequencies, the
TubeMeister 18 covers crystal-clear cleans,
British-infused rhythm crunch, and heavy
molten leads. But while it travels each of
these tone territories quite well, careful use
of the controls, proper choice of cabinet,
and of course, the proper guitar are all key
to getting the most out of this very capable
amp. In my initial tests, I routed the head
to an Eminence-equipped Epiphone Valve
Junior 1x12 cab and plugged in a Fender
American Special Telecaster.

Flipping to the neck pickup and spanking
out a few open chords on the Clean channel
at full power gave me a pretty spectacular tone
right off the bat—with a glistening sheen on
the high end and a lot of detail in the attack.
And it lent surprising bite to the stock Tele
neck pickup, which typically has a pretty
subdued, rounded tone. The Clean channel
sounded crisp and clear up to about 3 o’clock
on the Gain and Volume controls. Hitting
the strings hard at this point revealed a fair
amount of give in the lows, but I also found
that lighter picking recaptured some of the
articulate, piano-like highs that were more
prevalent when Gain was around 10 o’clock.

Switching to the Tele’s bridge pickup
brought out an entirely different beast—
one that roared with thick overdrive and
railed with slicing harmonics. The tight,
hi-fi-ish Hughes & Kettner voicing was
still there, but there was also a fierce growl
that was perfect for classic-rock rhythm
work. I was particularly impressed with the
amp’s responsiveness to guitar volume-knob
tweaks—rolling off the volume a touch gave
me more of a vintage, bouncy vibe. And it’s
very cool to be able to move between a big,
powerful clean tone to a snarling bark by
simply flipping the pickup switch.

The TubeMeister’s Lead channel was
impressive, too—there’s enough gain on
tap for everything from blues to hard rock
and metal. AC/DC and Mountain riffs had
the same tight voicing and articulate highs
that the clean channel exhibited, only with
a creamy distorted foundation. Kicking in
the Lead Boost pushed the amp into headbanger
territory. The most impressive aspect
of this channel—with and without the Lead
Boost engaged—was how well it reacted to
my picking technique. Played with a more
fluid, lax style, the notes were bouncier and
lows and mids had more give, while tighter,
more percussive picking firmed things up
considerably— coaxing a perfect thrash
tone that kept up with furious triplets and
quick power-chord riffing.

To hear how this little blue-eyed devil
would push a 4x12 cab, I routed it to an
Emperor 4x12 with Weber C1265 speakers
and plugged in a 1978 Greco GC-700 Les
Paul clone. With this setup, the TubeMeister
took on a more massive character but with
the same balanced, high-fidelity tone.
However, while that treble clarity worked
really well with the smaller Epi cab, the
highs bordered on harsh with the Emperor.
Luckily, this was easily remedied with the
guitar’s Tone knob and moderated Treble
settings on the amp—although some of the
amp’s trademark detail was also sacrificed
in the process. In the end, I found that the
TubeMeister sounded more dimensional
with the Epi cab’s single speaker than with
the Emperor’s speaker complement.

The Verdict
Hughes & Kettner did a fantastic job
designing and building the TubeMeister
18. It serves up great tones in a portable
package that’s very accessibly priced. It
has a high-fidelity tinge that’s typical of
many other Hughes & Kettner amps—
which means it won’t replace or replicate
the unique voices of a vintage Fender or
Marshall—but in terms of quality, flexibility,
and diversity of tones, it’s one of the
best small-wattage amps out there.

Watch the video review:

Buy if...
you’re after detailed tones in a
smartly appointed package that
won’t break the bank—or your back.Skip if...
your tonal proclivities veer toward
the vintage end of the spectrum.Rating...

A native of the Pacific Northwest, Jordan grew up traveling the country as the son of theater technical directors and speech instructors. His exposure to the performing arts early on helped foster his love for music and attention to detail, and upon receiving his first guitar at age 15, he became hooked. Jordan brings a considerable background of gear knowledge and tech experience to Premier Guitar, and has contributed an extensive amount of articles, artist interviews and Rig Rundown videos since late 2008. He lives in the Iowa City area, where he also works to bring music education initiatives to both local and regional communities.

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